1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to a mounting mechanism in general, and more particularly to mounting mechanisms useful to form a thermal interface between two heat exchanging devices, systems including such mounting mechanisms, and methods for their manufacture.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cooling of high performance integrated circuits with high heat dissipation is presenting significant challenges in the electronics cooling arena. Conventional cooling using heat pipes and fan mounted heat sinks are not adequate for cooling chips with ever-increasing wattage requirements, including those exceeding 100 W.
Electronics servers, such as blade servers and rack servers, are being used in increasing numbers due to the higher processor performance per unit volume one can achieve. However, the high density of integrated circuits also leads to high thermal density, which is beyond the capability of conventional air-cooling methods.
A particular problem with cooling integrated circuits on electronics servers is that multiple electronics servers are typically mounted in close quarters within a server chassis. In such configurations, electronics servers are separated by a limited amount of space, thereby reducing the dimensions within which to provide an adequate cooling solution. Typically, stacking of electronics servers does not provide the mounting of large fans and heat sinks for each electronics server. Often electronics server stacks within a single server chassis or rack are cooled by one large fan, a heat sink, or both. Using this configuration, the integrated circuits on each electronics server are cooled using the heat sink and the large fans that blow air over the heat sink, or simply by blowing air directly over the electronics servers. However, considering the limited free space surrounding the stacked electronics servers within the server chassis, the amount of air available for cooling the integrated circuits is limited.
As servers continue to increase in power and power density, it is no longer feasible to air cool the entire server rack. Liquid cooling systems, such as closed-loop liquid cooling systems and heat pipes, present alternative methods for conventional cooling solutions. Liquid cooling needs to occur at the integrated circuit level on an electronics server. Due to the density of the electronics and the high power densities of ultra high-performance servers, the heat picked up by a liquid cooling loop cannot be effectively discharged to the air via a radiator, as is common practice in other form factors such as desktops and work stations. The heat must be transferred to the server rack cooling system, which may be comprised of a pumped refrigerant or chilled water loop or the like. A key requirement of servers contained within such rack systems is the ability to swap in and out electronics servers. As such, there is a need to effectively connect and disconnect each electronics server and its corresponding cooling system to and from the rack cooling system.
This application for patent discloses cooling systems suitable for transferring heat produced by one or more heat generating devices from the one or more devices to a separately located environment of different temperature.